Fantasy wars

THE SOUL OF THE LION, THE WITCH & THE WARDROBE
By Gene Veith
Victor. 240 pages
ISBN 0 78144 212 5

When it comes to bringing the Christian message to the general public there is probably no greater vehicle at the present time than the Narnia stories of C.S. Lewis — especially given the success of the recent film of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the promise of more movies to come.

How can Christians best capitalise on that success? This book by Gene Veith, culture editor of World Magazine, does three things.

First, it gives a very fine analysis of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, showing in a very convincing and natural way the Christian truths which different parts of the narrative teach. This is very helpful if you wanted to give a series of talks — perhaps at a children’s club — based on Narnia.

Second, it engages with the other two great fantasy literature successes of recent years, namely the Harry Potter books and the aggressively atheistic His Dark Materials trilogy. Here Veith leads us into a solid understanding of where these books are coming from and how to counter their ideas. The literary background in misusing Milton’s Paradise Lost in the Dark Materials series is most enlightening.

Thirdly, the book provides a set of questions on each chapter which could easily form the basis for group discussion of fantasy and the Narnia books.

The modern mindset enjoys reasoned argument. But we are moving into a postmodern era in which people seem to appreciate story rather than logic. With this in mind, while you will find this book a joy to read and immensely informative personally, it might well also provide you with fresh ideas about how to use Narnia to share the gospel. I would highly recommend it.